The present invention generally relates to social networking and communications. Worldwide use of the Internet, mobile, instant and delayed communication technology and social networks are growing at an extremely rapid pace. Millions of people worldwide use the Internet through social networking sites and mobile applications daily for accessing information, shopping, recreation, receiving product updates, and other communications. As mobile and Internet data access become less expensive, global and easier to use, use of the Internet and mobile communication apps will become even more widespread.
Several communication mobile applications already exist, but none focus on the main elements of the instant invention, namely, obtaining almost instant feedback on virtually anything with minimal number of clicks and the ability to obtain data (e.g. the object on which feedback is being provided, surveys conducted in an engaging manner, geo-location of the users providing the feedback, demographic data on the users, and other typically collected forms of data in the internet and mobile area) from a close group of user-selected friends, a larger group or the general public in a manner that entertains and provides a valuable service to the users.
Event data (e.g. data related to users intending to watch a favorite sports team playing another team, television shows, movies (especially new releases), theater, opera or other special mass scheduled events) that are created by users using the invention provide additional valuable data as to the viability of products or services and/or present relevant advertising, marketing opportunities and valuable insight into forecasting for supply chains, markets and the like.
In addition to the above, allowing users to obtain feedback easily and almost instantly on images (a pair of shoes sold on an online retail store), website links (news stores, blogs, etc.) or other content (e.g. video clips, music, games, etc.) available on the Internet or other online sources (e.g. online web applications like iTunes) helps the user in making decisions and being entertained and provides the website or content owner with a new source of potential customers (the user and the recipients of the user's poll who, in the example of the shoes above, may view the image of the shoes and be given a link to the webpage) and valuable market research (e.g. how the poll was answered by users, responses broken down into demographical, geographical and other type of audience segments, the current purchasing desires of the users).